On Media

NBC News and Telemundo join for 2012

By DYLAN BYERS

06/14/2012 10:27 AM EDT

NBC News and Telemundo, the Spanish-language channel, will pool resources for this year's 2012 election coverage, the two companies announced today.

"NBC News will give Telemundo Media access to the assets and strengths of the #1 news organization in the country, while Telemundo Media will contribute its expertise and reach within the Hispanic community," a joint-press release says. "By combining news gathering assets and award-winning journalists, NBC News and Telemundo Media will offer unparalleled political news programming and convention coverage as well as exclusive town halls and monthly polls."

Tapping the Hispanic audience, the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population, is increasingly a concern for the major television networks. Last month, ABC News and Univision announced that they would launch a new 24-hour, English-language cable news network targeted toward Hispanics, which will launch in 2013. While NBC and Telemundo have nothing like that on the horizon, the cross-branding will nevertheless be a boon to NBC among Hispanic audiences.

And a significant data point from the press release: 12.2 million Latinos are expected to vote in the 2012 Presidential election, according to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, up from 9.7 million in 2008.